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IBM Informix vs SingleStore comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Informix
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (10th), Relational Databases Tools (23rd)
SingleStore
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (17th), Vector Databases (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Databases solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Informix is designed for Embedded Database and holds a mindshare of 2.7%, up 1.2% compared to last year.
SingleStore, on the other hand, focuses on Database as a Service (DBaaS), holds 2.9% mindshare, up 1.7% since last year.
Embedded Database Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Informix2.7%
SQLite20.4%
Firebird SQL15.9%
Other61.0%
Embedded Database
Database as a Service (DBaaS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SingleStore2.9%
Amazon RDS12.6%
MongoDB Atlas12.1%
Other72.4%
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Nasir Niamat - PeerSpot reviewer
DB Consultant at i2c
Has offered a cost-effective option despite frequent technical issues and limited market demand
We find some bugs in IBM Informix. Maybe we are using it more aggressively than others. Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal. It should be rare, not this frequent. The good thing is they cover those bugs in the next release within weeks or days on demand. IBM Informix should become hybrid and should include AI features similar to other DBMS systems such as Snowflake, Redshift, and DataBricks. This would help its value rise with the market.
Kelvin  Ben - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Honeywell
Real-time analytics has transformed daily decisions and delivers fast dashboards from streaming data
The best features SingleStore offers include fast data recovery and data compression by 80 percent. Having the information in sheets helps me to process the information quickly. Simplicity in T-SQL is another aspect I appreciate. Data recovery and sheet-based processing help my team on a day-to-day basis by enabling us to handle information efficiently. I would like to add that the data compression by 80 percent helps us in an excellent way since we are very fast in obtaining the data for our dashboards and the compression of the information is great. SingleStore has impacted my organization positively by enabling us to run low-latency analytics and model-driven use cases at scale, which is quite difficult for OLAP and OLTP databases alone. It has been very helpful because our internal clients are happy to have the data and make data-driven decisions easily. Making decisions based on data within a two-hour delay to the transactional database is excellent since we went from twenty-four hours to two hours. I think the best contribution is decision-making with data that is close to reality. Reducing that delay from twenty-four hours to two hours has significantly affected my team and business outcomes by increasing productivity. We have been able to serve all our customers, and they are very happy. We can deliver to them on time.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The initial setup is very simple."
"It supports in-house-built applications in .NET and VB6"
"Replication, all levels of replication, query charting, and the MongoDB embedded are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The solution's stability, performance, enhanced functionality, and replication are all great features."
"This solution has made financial reporting possible by allowing financial people the opportunity to set Informix to "Auto Pilot" so that they can attend other duties."
"It is very easy to install IBM Informix, very easy to scale, and support is quite better."
"The stability is incredible. I have customers with uptimes of several years."
"It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools."
"MemSQL is a very powerful database."
"The ability to store data in memory is a standout feature, enhanced by robust failover mechanisms."
"MemSQL supports the MySQL protocol, and many functions are similar, so the learning curve is very short."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to create pipelines, streamline and extract data from the pipelines."
"SingleStore has impacted my organization positively by enabling us to run low-latency analytics and model-driven use cases at scale, which is quite difficult for OLAP and OLTP databases alone."
"The paramount advantage is the exceptional speed."
"It's a distributed relational database, so it does not have a single server, it has multiple servers. Its architecture itself is fast because it has multiple nodes to distribute the workload and process large amounts of data."
"The product can automatically reinstall and reconfigure in case of a shutdown."
 

Cons

"It would be helpful to have IBM salespeople know that Informix exists, and sell it. Currently, it is completely ignored by IBM."
"The solution lacks some functionality."
"This solution is in need of more current tools."
"The solution should offer replication. It would be helpful if the solution would allow us to access third-party tools."
"In my opinion, the packages could be improved. The version I use doesn't allow for packages. I can do some general procedures, but no packages like in Oracle. So, develop separate modules in SQL language. This would be most beneficial for me."
"I really would love to have a QT plugin."
"Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal."
"The support team could include local engineers to establish efficient communication. It will help us speed up the escalation process."
"For new customers, it's very tough to start. Their documentation isn't organized, and there's no online training available. SingleStore is working on it, but that's a major drawback."
"It is not the optimal choice for direct data collection through queries, and it's more suited for aggregation tasks."
"There should be more pipelines available because I think that if MemSQL can connect to other services, that would be great."
"Poor key distribution can significantly impact performance, requiring a backward approach in design rather than adding tables incrementally."
"SingleStore can be improved in the aspect that the Azure pipelines do not have many parameterization features compared to others, for example, AWS."
"We don't get good discounts in Pakistan."
"Having the ability to migrate servers using a single command would be extremely beneficial."
"There should be more pipelines available because I think that if MemSQL can connect to other services, that would be great."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product has reasonable pricing. We purchase its yearly license."
"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
"The free edition can be enough to handle moderate-size implementations, but you may want a pay for edition to benefit from more functionality, such as replication."
"For me, it's always too expensive."
"SingleStore is a bit expensive."
"I would advise users to try the free 128GB version."
"They have two main options: cloud installation and bare-metal installation, each with different pricing models."
"Using it for analytical purposes can be cost-effective in the long run, especially in terms of infrastructure."
"The product's licensing is not expensive. It is comparable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Retailer
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Informix?
There is a cost reason to move from IBM Informix. It is relatively cheaper than Oracle. The second reason is that moving the whole application to a new database would require significant cost. The ...
What needs improvement with IBM Informix?
We find some bugs in IBM Informix. Maybe we are using it more aggressively than others. Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal. It should be rare, not this f...
What is your primary use case for IBM Informix?
We are using IBM Informix for OLTP systems. We are using IBM Informix although it is a technology that is not very popular compared to others. We are using it because our application was initially ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SingleStore DB?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it can be a bit expensive for startups, but for my organization, the cost is affordable and cost-effective.
What needs improvement with SingleStore DB?
SingleStore can be improved in the aspect that the Azure pipelines do not have many parameterization features compared to others, for example, AWS. Also, error handling needs attention. When it fai...
What is your primary use case for SingleStore DB?
My main use case for SingleStore is real-time analytics and data storage and serving for my ML workloads. It enables me to run low-latency analytics and model-driven use cases at scale, which is qu...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Informix
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shaspa, Hildebrand, Kaifa, Ranhill Powertron, Federaci‹ Farmacutica (FedeFarma), Camden Council, The German Aerospace Center (DLR), Myers, Votorantim Group, Doosan Infracore, GreenIvory
400+ customers including: 6sense, Adobe, Akamai, Ant Money, Arcules, CARFAX, Cigna, Cisco, Comcast, DELL, DBS Bank, Dentsu, DirectlyApply, EY, Factors.AI, Fathom Analytics, FirstEnergy, GE, Goldman Sachs, Heap, Hulu, IMAX, impact.com, Kroger, LG, LiveRamp, Lumana, Nvidia, OpenDialog, Outreach, Palo Alto Networks, PicPay, RBC, Samsung, SegMetrics, Siemens, SiteImprove, SiriusXM, SK Telecom, SKAI, SONY, STC, SunRun, TATA, Thorn, ZoomInfo.
Find out what your peers are saying about SQLite, SAP, Firebird and others in Embedded Database. Updated: March 2026.
885,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.